487 research outputs found
Key Issue - How to share and discuss your research successfully online
No full textWhen I first started working in the field of online dissemination of academic research, about
four years ago, I asked a lot of questions around why it is important to share your work
online. Over the years, my questions have now shifted away from ‘Is this an important thing
to do?’ (Yes, it is), to ‘How can we do this important activity well?’
As I work with researchers at the University of Huddersfield across all disciplines, one of
the first things I learnt was that the success of online dissemination and promotion requires
different tools, methods and approaches depending on the subject area covered and the
aims of the researcher. That said, there are certain central tenets that, if applied in a tailored
way to your online activities, will help you to expand and engage your networks more
successfully. I am going to cover five of these, and apply them broadly across a range of
online platforms that you might be considering using
Levomilnacipran and vortioxetine: Review of new pharmacotherapies for major depressive disorder
No full textMajor depressive disorder (MDD) is a common psychiatric disorder with an estimated lifetime prevalence rate in the range of 13% to 16% in the United States population. Patients with MDD often have symptoms such as depressed mood, loss of interest or pleasure in usual activities, changes in eating or sleeping patterns, fatigue, difficulty concentrating and thoughts of suicide. Although many pharmacotherapy treatment options are available for MDD, antidepressants can often cause adverse effects that could affect adherence to the medication. Additionally, it is estimated that MDD is unremitting in 15% of patients and 35% can have recurrent episodes. Given the high rate of recurrence and the adverse effects associated with existing medications, new treatment options for depression are needed. Both levomilnacipran and vortioxetine are new antidepressants that were approved by the food and drug administration in 2013 for the treatment of MDD in adults. Levomilnacipran is a serotonin norepinephrine reuptake inhibitor that was effective in several short term studies and sustained efficacy and tolerability was demonstrated in a 48-wk extension study. Vortioxetine is a multi-modal antidepressant and it is thought to work via inhibition of the serotonin (5-HT) transporter, 5-HT3A, 5-HT7 and 5-HT1D antagonist, a 5-HT1B partial agonist, and a 5-HT1A agonist. Vortioxetine was effective in the treatment of MDD in both short-term trials as well as in the prevention of relapse in a 24-36 wk trial. Sustained efficacy and tolerability was demonstrated in several long-term open-label trials. Further studies comparing levomilnacipran and vortioxetine to other currently available antidepressants are needed to establish its place in therapy
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Examining the Effects of Linguistic Complexity on Emergent Bilinguals’ Academic Content Performance
No full textThis dissertation explored whether unnecessary linguistic complexity (LC) in mathematics and biology assessment items changes the direction and significance of differential item functioning (DIF) between subgroups emergent bilinguals (EBs) and English proficient students (EPs). Due to inconsistencies in measuring LC in items, Study One adapted a rubric counting instances of specific grammatical features in items and introduced a method for evaluating lexical features in items. Four raters were asked to count the presence of five grammatical features in assessment items and determine whether each feature contained construct-relevant vocabulary. The items were drawn from four content assessments administered to Massachusetts high school students: two biology assessments and two mathematics assessments. These counts of grammatical and lexical features were modeled in factor analyses to evaluate the multidimensionality of LC and subsequent fit of multidimensional LC models. While there were problems with raters consistently counting construct-irrelevant grammatical features, multidimensional models of LC fit acceptably well. Factor scores obtained from the measurement models for lexical complexity, relative clauses, and complex noun phrases created in Study One were used for Study Two. In Study Two, Rasch hierarchical generalized linear models (HGLMs) were created to evaluate DIF between different subgroups of EBs and EPs on a biology assessment and a mathematics assessment, as including LC as an item covariate may predict item responses differently by comparison group. Seven comparison groups were evaluated across two assessments (mathematics and biology): EPs versus EBs, EPs versus short-term EBs, EPs versus long-term EBs, short-term EBs versus long-term EBs, EPs versus Spanish-speaking EBs, EPs versus non-Spanish-speaking EBs, and non-Spanish-speaking EBs versus Spanish-speaking EBs (reference group versus focal group, respectively). For each comparison group, at least five models were created: a comparison model with all participants in the comparison group with that only accounts for the main effect of focal group status, a “base model” that evaluated DIF for the comparison groups with no LC item covariates, a model including lexical complexity as an item covariate (“LEX predictor”), a model including complex noun phrases as an item covariate (“NP predictor”), and a model including relative clauses as an item covariate (“RC predictor”). If LC predictor models improved model fit, models with multiple LC predictors were created.
For the EP versus EB comparison groups on the mathematics assessment, model fit only improved with the NP predictor model, while the LEX, NP, and RC predictor models improved model fit for the EB versus EB comparison groups; a model with all LC predictors improved model fit for the EB versus EB comparison groups. For the biology assessment, the LEX, NP, and RC predictor models improved model fit for all comparison groups; a model with all LC predictors improved model fit for all comparison groups. The main effects of the item covariates (LC factor scores) and their interactions with focal group status were evaluated, as were the number of items within a comparison group that had changes in DIF significance or direction when including a LC predictor. All LC predictors had consistent main effects across comparison groups. For the mathematics assessment, items with higher complex noun phrases factor scores were consistently more difficult for all comparison groups (NP predictor model), and items with higher lexical complexity (LEX predictor model, all predictors model) or relative clauses factor scores (RC predictor model, all predictors model) were consistently more difficult for all EB versus EB comparison groups. For the biology assessment and all comparison groups, items with higher lexical complexity (LEX predictor model, all predictors model) or complex noun phrases factor scores (NP predictor model, all predictors model) were consistently more difficult, and items with lower relative clauses factor scores (RC predictor model, all predictors model) were consistently more difficult, with one exception. In the all predictors models for the EB versus EB comparison groups, only relative clauses had a significant main effect.
There were some changes in interactions with LC predictors and focal group status. For the mathematics assessment and EP versus EB comparison groups, complex noun phrases interactions favored EPs. For the mathematics assessment and EB versus EB comparison groups, generally the interactions in the single LC predictor models generally favored STEBs compared to LTEBs and non-Spanish-speaking EBs compared to Spanish-speaking EBs, but when all LC predictors were included, no interactions between LC predictor and focal group status were significant. For the biology assessment and EP versus EB comparison groups, lexical complexity and complex noun phrases factor scores interactions generally favored EPs, and relative clauses factor scores interactions favored EBs and EB subgroups. For the biology assessment and EB versus EB comparison groups, regardless of whether examining the single LC predictor or all predictors models, no interactions between focal group status and LC predictor were significant.
Changes in DIF significance and direction were compared between the base model and LC predictor models for all comparison groups. For the mathematics assessment and EP versus EB comparison groups, after conditioning on complex noun phrases, items with complex noun phrases generally exhibited significant DIF favoring EBs, regardless of whether the complex noun phrases factor scores were high (one standard deviation above the mean) or low (due to floor effects, the lowest complex noun phrases factor score). For the biology assessment, all items exhibited significant DIF favoring EBs after accounting for lexical complexity, most items exhibited non-significant DIF after accounting for complex noun phrases or relative clauses, and items were mixed between exhibiting non-significant DIF or significant DIF favoring EBs after accounting for all LC predictors. While items with high relative clauses factor scores exhibited non-significant DIF, some items with low relative clauses factor scores exhibited significant DIF favoring EPs after accounting for relative clauses. Items with two or more high factor scores exhibited non-significant DIF, but items with two or more low factor scores exhibited significant DIF favoring EBs after accounting for all LC predictors. These results were fairly consistent across different EP versus EB comparison groups, although different items were flagged for DIF in initial models not accounting for LC predictors. Items were less difficult for EBs than EPs after accounting for LC features, which suggests the abilities of EBs are underestimated due to LC in items, even if the items have low LC. Considering subgroup differences in these EIRMs, the key takeaway is that while different items are flagged as exhibiting significant DIF for different EP versus EB comparison groups when examining DIF with no LC predictors, there are few subgroup differences in items changing DIF significance or direction after accounting for LC predictors
Personalizing the Pandemic
No full textIn late 2019, a new coronavirus emerged and began to spread globally, causing a once in a lifetime pandemic. Personalizing the Pandemic offers a snapshot of how the COVID-19 pandemic impacted the professional and personal lives of theological and religious studies librarians, especially as they balanced meeting patron needs and institutional expectations while caring for themselves and their communities. It seeks to personalize the disruptive, chaotic, and tragic event we lived through while offering a record of this professional community’s experience for generations of librarians to come.Publishe
"Not just supporting but leading": the involvement of the women of the South Wales coalfield in the 1984-85 Miners' Strike
No full textThe 1984-85 miners’ strike dramatically changed the face of the South Wales Valleys. This dissertation will show that the women’s groups that played such a crucial supportive role in it were not the homogenous entity that has often been portrayed. They shared some comparable features with similar groups in English pit villages but there were also qualitative differences between the South Wales groups and their English counterparts and between the different Welsh groups themselves. There is evidence of tensions between the Welsh groups and disputes with the communities they were trying to assist, as well as clashes with local miners’ lodges and the South Wales NUM. At the same time women’s support groups, various in structure and purpose but united in the aim of supporting the miners, challenged and shifted the balance of established gender roles
The miners’ strike evokes warm memories of communities bonding together to fight for their survival. This thesis investigates in detail the women involved in support groups to discover what impact their involvement made on their lives afterwards. Their role is contextualised by the long-standing tradition of Welsh women’s involvement in popular politics and industrial disputes; however, not all women discovered a new confidence arising from their involvement. But others did and for them this self-belief survived the strike and, in some cases, permanently altered their own lives. The activities of the women’s support groups confirmed changes in the social role of women that had been occurring since the 1960s in the coalfield communities of South Wales, and thereby contributed to a revision of the traditional notion of ‘communities’ which were changed by the very process of being defended
An exploration of self-compassion and psychosis
No full textPsychosis is an umbrella term used to describe a specific set of experiences, including hallucinations, delusions and paranoia. Psychotic experiences are understood to lie on a continuum and are therefore experienced by both clinical and non-clinical samples. Whilst some individuals may experience little distress from their experiences and not require specialist support, other experiences can be severe, enduring and affect friendships, employment and romantic relationships. When considering the adverse effect psychosis can have, research exploring the aetiology and treatment of psychosis is of great importance. This thesis aims to build on the current understanding in this area, utilizing three distinct chapters. The first chapter aims to provide background and context for the following two chapters. It provides an in-depth exploration of the continuum nature of psychosis, a critical literature review of the current understanding of psychosis and alternative perspectives of psychosis to the traditional medical model. The second chapter systematically reviews existing research, exploring whether compassion focused interventions improve therapeutic outcomes within samples experiencing psychosis. The final chapter is an original piece of quantitative research exploring whether cognitive theory of mind mediates the relationship between developmental trauma and paranoia in a non-clinical population when controlling for self-compassion. It is hoped that overall narrative of the thesis has clinical benefit, identifying helpful considerations for the assessment, formulation and intervention of psychosis like experiences. Both research chapters have been written for following guidelines for The British Journal of Psychology, please see Appendix O for the rationale and relevant author guidelines
Expressing Intellectual Freedom: A Content Analysis of Catholic Library World from 1980 to 2015
No full textObjective – Professional librarians have varying values relating to the topic of intellectual freedom that may or may not align with the American Library Association’s (ALA) policies defining professional expectations on the topic. The personally held values and beliefs of Roman Catholic librarians and those working in libraries affiliated with Roman Catholicism are worthy of study to determine how personal religious values may translate into professional practice. The objective of this paper is to ascertain how frequently and in what context the topics of intellectual freedom and censorship were expressed in articles published in Catholic Library World (CLW), the professional journal of the Catholic Library Association (CLA) from 1980 to 2015. Published content on these topics can be used as evidence to determine how this population discusses the concept of intellectual freedom.
Methods – Articles relevant to these topics were retrieved from the American Theological Library Association Catholic Periodical and Literature Index (ATLA CPLI) and Library, Information Science & Technology Abstracts (LISTA) databases by conducting keyword searches using the terms “intellectual freedom” and censorship. Each retrieved publication was analyzed by counting the number of times the phrase “intellectual freedom” and the root censor* occurred. Through a deep reading of each publication, statements containing these search terms were then coded as positive, negative, or neutral, establishing a context for each occurrence.
Results – The majority of published content supported intellectual freedom and opposed censorship. Negative content typically occurred in publications about children or school libraries. Additionally, CLW contributors did express a certain level of conflict between personally held religious values and professional values.
Conclusions – This study adds to the limited research available on the intersection of personally held religious values and professional values. Further research is needed to gain a better understanding of the conflict between values amongst Catholic librarians, librarians of other faith traditions, and librarians in general
Residence-time-fixed investigation of pressure and temperature effects on the flame synthesis of nanoparticles
No full textThe synthesis of nano-titania (n-TiO2) is investigated experimentally and computationally in low-pressure H2/O2/inert(s) burner-stabilized flat flames with strategic helium/argon/nitrogen dilution in a stagnation point geometry, using a metal-organic (titanium tetra-isopropoxide, TTIP) precursor. Gas-phase simulation is applied to compute various experimental flame structures. The employment of combinations of different molecular weight and specific heat capacity inert gases makes it possible to tailor the flame structure, so as to isolate various known parameters affecting particle growth, while maintaining fixed gas-phase residence time. Using this method, the effects of ambient pressure and temperature are studied. Two particle growth and evolution sub-models (i.e. a monodisperse model and a sectional model), which utilize the gas-phase modeling results, calculate the primary and aggregate particle sizes as a function of axial location in the flow field. After deposition on a cooled substrate, the powders are characterized ex-situ using X-ray diffraction (XRD) and Brunaur-Emmet-Teller (BET) measurements to determine nanopowder characteristics, such as phase/crystallinity and specific surface area (from which primary particle size can be inferred). This study indicates that pressure, with other parameters fixed, has limited effect on particle growth. With identical temperature histories at 20, 30, and 40torr, the primary particle sizes vary by less than 1nm, computationally, and less than 0.8nm experimentally. In contrast, temperature, with other parameters fixed, plays a significant role in primary particle development. Particles generated in strategically diluted flames, with only an 80K difference in maximum temperature, have primary sizes that are more than 2.5nm different.M.S.Includes bibliographical references (p. 83)
Cycling on the Verge? Exploring the Place of Utility Cycling in Contemporary New Zealand Transport Policy
No full textEfforts to increase cycling as a mode of transport (utility cycling) occur at central, regional and local levels of government through a range of supportive strategies, research, and guidelines. Despite these efforts, utility cycling levels in New Zealand have remained persistently low. This thesis examines the apparent disparity between policy intent and policy result, using a discourse analytical approach. It examines how cycling is positioned in contemporary New Zealand transport policy documents, and explores whose priorities are shaping transport policy with what implications for utility cycling.
This study uses a critical discourse analysis (CDA) approach to analyse the land transport documents from across the institutions of government. The CDA approach, grounded in the work of van Dijk and Fairclough, draws on ideas from the interpretive tradition of discourse analysis, inspired by Foucault’s concepts of knowledge and power. This approach reveals the position of utility cycling by exposing the framing, dominant discourses, and discursive strategies that privilege certain transport objectives and activities over others.
The findings show transport is promoted almost exclusively by central government as an activity to facilitate economic growth and efficiency, despite its potential (and actual) impacts on health and well-being, social justice, and environmental sustainability. The discursive practices of the government privilege private motor vehicle use, helping to both legitimate and maintain that privilege at all levels of government, while positioning utility cycling as a marginalised mode of transport.
This thesis contributes to scholarship on utility cycling and land transport policy in New Zealand by identifying how the discursive strategies of government control the position of utility cycling in New Zealand. This study underscores the need for a central government-led, long-term strategic vision for a genuinely integrated, multi-modal transport system, in order for the benefits of utility cycling to be fully maximised
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